I was replaceing the spark plugs today and pulled the coil out on and found yellow chalk type stuff on the coil. I looked down inside the tube (in the cylinder head) and saw some more. I also tried to get the plug out but it was very tight so I stopped and put the coil back for now.
The cylinder is the passenger side rear, the car is a '97 Max with 60,000 miles. I had just purchased it from a private owner and have put on only 1200 miles. Does anyone know if this is an internal coolant leak problem (head or gasket)?

Thanks in advance,
Kmax

 

Sometimes upon assembly (NEW) manufactures put yellow markings on nuts and bolt heads to see if they have been tampered with. This gives the dealer an edge when a car is braught back for repair. They can see if the yellow markings have been broken, meaning the bolt has been accessed. Being it's a 60K service, it is most likely the 1st time your coils have been pulled. So you just may have run into a case where the markings have just come off some nuts or the coil assy. itsefl. Don't worry about it and continue your 60K service.

 

Thanks for the help njmax. After thinking about it, it looks like the yellow "stuff" ran down the coil tube to the plug. I'm going to try to clean it out before I pull the plug tomorrow. The plugs looked original, judging by the wear.